Psychology Glossary

Centration

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In Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the second stage is called Preoperational Thought. During this stage, which occurs from age 4-7, the child begins to develop logic or reasoning. One of the processes that develops is that of Centration, which refers to the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a situation, problem or object. For example, a child may complain that there is little ice cream left in a big bowl. The child will be satisfied if the ice cream is transferred to a little bowl, even though nothing is added, because he only considers how full the bowl appears to be.